People Services Business Partner

Integrated Care System; Carlisle; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A health services organization in Carlisle is seeking a People Services Business Partner to lead HR efforts focusing on employee relations and organizational culture. The ideal candidate will have a master's degree or equivalent experience, strong analytical and interpersonal skills, and the ability to work flexibly within a team. The role involves providing HR guidance for complex issues and developing effective practices within the organization. Competitive benefits and professional development opportunities are offered.

Benefits

27-day holiday scheme increasing with tenure

Access to NHS discounts

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Highly specialised knowledge required at master's degree level.
• Experience in leading and managing teams.
• Ability to provide HR advice on complex issues.

Responsibilities

• Develop team knowledge and skills to handle HR issues effectively.
• Provide complex HR advice supporting senior managers.
• Analyze HR data to identify trends and implement improvements.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Analytical skills

HR knowledge

Leadership

Conflict resolution

Education

Master's degree or equivalent experience

Membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Go back North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

People Services Business Partner

The closing date is 19 August 2025

This is an exciting and challenging position, critical in driving a compassionate approach and organisational culture in the way we care for staff who experience difficulties at work, whether in respect of their conduct, performance, interpersonal relationships (including bullying and harassment) sickness absence or other concerns. A core element of the role will be to ensure that our policies and practices are compliant and in line with best practice.

Play a key role in developing a compassionate organisational culture in regard to our approach to the management of employee relations issues.

At the heart of this is embedding our values to how we approach difficultpeople issues. This includes a people focused approach and regard to restorative outcomes, supporting Collaboratives through a business partnering model, listening to understand the needs of the Trust & providing timely interventions through policy and OD support.

Lead a team of advisors & support on complex cases, maintaining relationships and consistency of approach as well as tracking and monitoring delivery of KPIs, activity and service level agreements, providing assurance to the Trust of the effectiveness and value of the service.

Main duties of the job

You will develop the knowledge and skills of the team to be not only technically expert but capable in coaching managers and staff in how they approach and respond to difficult people issues, so will have experience in leading and managing teams.

You will have the ability to provide highly complex human resources advice and be the HR lead of a generalist team of advisors providing support to senior managers within the Collaboratives.

You will have the ability to analyse complex data, in order to identify and monitor trends and develop and implement an approach to ensure continuous learning and quality improvement

You will have experience of successfully building effective relationships and networks, including within the HRprofession and with tradeunions/staff side organisations, in a complex organisation.

You will have excellent report writing skills and the ability tomake clear recommendations, including risk assessments, on best practiceand compliance of statutory laws and guidance and Trust policy.

Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence and negotiate at all levels within the organisation, giving complex advice and guidance to all levels of management and staff.

You will be a great team player able to work flexibly and contribute to the combined aims of People Services.

About us

At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding healthcare services to the population of North Cumbria. The Trust is committed to creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout our county.

Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of 'safe, high quality care every time':

• Being a clinically led organisation
• Quality and safety at the heart of our Trust
• A positive patient experience every time
• A great place to work
• Managing our money well

As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.

Across the North East and North Cumbria we are working together to deliver our ambition to be the greenest region in England by 2030. All staff are expected to support sustainability.

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.

Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment.Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed.

If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligible vacancies.

Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.

If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.

Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date.

For candidates applying using a Hotmail account or have strict firewall settings please ensure the following:

• Junk Mail is checked regularly

Disclosure and Barring Service:

On 28 November 2020, the new Disclosure and Barring Service filtering rules will come into effect.

The changes mean that:

• youth cautions, reprimands and final warnings will no longer be subject to automatic disclosure
• the multiple conviction rule has been removed, meaning that if an individual has more than one conviction, regardless of offence type or time passed, each conviction will be considered against the remaining rules individually, rather than being automatically disclosed.

If you are unsure about whether you need to disclose certain criminal record information, free confidential advice may be sought from one of the charity bodies listed below. These bodies can advise you on what you are legally required to declare and may also be able to advise you on how you can disclose criminal record information to a prospective employer and your legal rights when doing so.

Unlock Tel: [phone], email [e-mail] or complete the online form on the Unlock website

The Trust is committed to safeguarding adults and children therefore if the post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended) the successful candidate(s) will be subject to a criminal records check with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:

Please note the cost of the DBS check has increased from 2nd December 2024

Standard Check: £21.50 + Administration cost of £5.90 = £27.40. Deducted from salary over following 4 months or one off payment.

Enhanced Check: £49.50 + administration cost of £5.90 = £55.40. Deducted from salary over following 4 months or one off payment.

As part of the one of the largest employers in the UK NCIC future employees will have also access to the following benefits.

A lease car may be available for this position; further details will be provided upon appointment if applicable.

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years

Access to NHS discounts with retailers and leisure companies

EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems

These schemes are subject to availability

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Highly specialised knowledge to master's degree level or equivalent experience and training
• Membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• Qualification relating to specialty area
• Chartered Membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Knowledge

• Evidence of continual professional and/or managerial development
• Experience of delivery of significant HR advice and guidance
• Experience of working with managers at all levels on people management issues relating to significant change processes, and projects.
• Experience of effectively dealing with highly complex employee relations issues including dismissals, organisational change and TUPE
• Experience of trade union partnership working (up to regional level) in a complex organisation
• Knowledge of current employment law and HR good practice, and ability to translate into practice
• Experience of successfully building effective relationships and networks, including within the HR profession and with trade unions/staff side organisations
• Experience of working effectively within a highly unionised environment.
• Experience of dealing with staff groups with complex terms and conditions of service
• Experience or leading and manging teams
• Experience and understanding of matrix management
• Experience of managing change
• Requires good IT skills working with Microsoft Office and other related applications
• Experience of significant complex organisation change programmes
• HR experience within the NHS
• Experience of Maintaining High Professional Standards framework
• Detailed knowledge of NHS terms and conditions (all staff groups)
• Knowledge of national initiatives within the NHS to drive improvements
• Knowledge of Agenda for Change Job Evaluation

Skills

• Up to date HR knowledge, including current Employment and Data Protection legislation
• Up to date knowledge of employment law and national NHS HR, training and leadership strategies.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence and negotiate at all levels within the organisation
• Team player able to work flexibly and contribute to the combined aims of the People Services and OD directorate
• Collaborative working across services/ care groups to support and lead on change
• Resilient and the ability to maintain performance under pressure
• Empathy in relation to dealing with sensitive information and issues
• Excellent analytical skills with ability to grasp detail.
• Ability to effectively resolve conflict.
• Innovative and creative in producing future service developments.
• Ability to prioritise work to meet deadlines
• Able to use initiative appropriately.
• Strong planning and organisational skills.
• Ability to work to deadlines and manage a range of activities simultaneously
• Strong attention to detail
• Able to evaluate situations and assimilate information quickly
• Organisational Development knowledge and experience of leading cultural change.
• Up to date HR knowledge in relation to specific medical workforce related conditions and T&C's

Personal Circumstances

• Must be able to fulfil the mobility requirements of the post.
• Open, respectful and engaging
• Communication skills in order to build effective working relationships with a wide range of individuals and teams
• Self-motivated.
• Able to be assertive when appropriate.
• Ability to demonstrate team leadership and show a commitment to the development of others.
• Political awareness and sensitivity.
• Committed to embedding inclusivity and diversity in all aspects of HR work
• Proactive.
• Committed to quality improvement.
• Team orientated.

Other

• Promote equality and value diversity
• Develop a culture that promotes equality and values diversity.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust